Produced by Distributed Proofreaders SELECTIONS FROM POE Edited with Biographical and Critical Introduction and Notes BY J. MONTGOMERY GAMBRILL Head of the Department of History and Civics Baltimore Polytechnic Institute INSCRIBED TO THE POE AND LOWELL LITERARY SOCIETIES OF THE BALTIMORE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE [Illustration: EDGAR ALLAN POE. After an engraving by Cole] PREFACE Edgar Allan Poe has been the subject of so much controversy that he is the one American writer whom high-school pupils (not to mention teachers) are likely to approach with ready-made prejudices. It is impossible to treat such a subject in quite the ordinary matter-of-course way. Furthermore, his writings are so highly subjective, and so intimately connected with his strongly held critical theories, as to need somewhat careful and extended study. These facts make it very difficult to treat either the man or his art as simply as is desirable in a secondary text-book. Consequently the Introduction is longer and less simple than the editor would desire for the usual text. It is believed, however, that the teacher can take up this Introduction with the pupil in such a way as to make it helpful, significant, and interesting. The text of the following poems and tales is that of the Stedman-Woodberry edition (described in the Bibliography, p. xxx), and the selections are reprinted by permission of the publishers, Duffield & Company; this text is followed exactly except for a very few changes in punctuation, not more than five or six in all. My obligations to other works are too numerous to mention; all the publications included in the Bibliography, besides a number of others, have been examined, but I especially desire to acknowledge the courtesy of Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs of Baltimore, who sent me from Paris a copy of Émile Lauvrière's interesting and important study, "Edgar Poe: Sa vie et son oeuvre; étude de psychologie pathologique." To my wife I am indebted for valuable assistance in the tedious work of reading proofs and verifying the text. CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION BIBLIOGRAPHY POEMS SONG SPIRITS OF THE DEAD TO ---- ROMANCE TO THE RIVER TO SCIENCE TO HELEN ISRAFEL THE CITY IN THE SEA THE SLEEPER LENORE THE VALLEY OF UNREST THE COLISEUM HYMN TO ONE IN PARADISE TO F---- TO F----S S. O----D TO ZANTE BRIDAL BALLAD SILENCE THE CONQUEROR WORM DREAM-LAND THE RAVEN EULALIE TO M.L. S---- ULALUME TO ---- ---- AN ENIGMA TO HELEN A VALENTINE FOR ANNIE THE BELLS ANNABEL LEE TO MY MOTHER ELDORADO THE HAUNTED PALACE TALES THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER WILLIAM WILSON A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTRÖM THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH THE GOLD-BUG THE PURLOINED LETTER NOTES INTRODUCTION EDGAR ALLAN POE: HIS LIFE, CHARACTER, AND ART